The Ionia girls basketball team kept pace for more than three quarters with the Panthers of DeWitt Friday night, but the home team's depth wore down the Bulldogs as they fell by a score of 53-43.

"I thought we played well, but we just had some mental lapses that hurt us," Ionia coach Andy Barr said. "We need to get better at finishing games, but I thought our kids put together a very good performance against a DeWitt team that was a top-20 team in the all-class preseason rankings."

The Panthers held a 37-33 lead heading into the fourth, then outscored Ionia 16-10 over the final 12 minutes. They also made seven free throws on 11 attempts in the final period.Taylor Bovee paced the Bulldogs with 16 points, while Sarah Swartz finished with 10 and Anna Riccius scored nine.

Ionia (2-2, 0-1 in CAAC White) will be off until Friday when the Lady Dawgs will play host to Fowlerville following the varsity boys game.